A Haunting in Vancouver
by Noah Hunter
Summary: -Parents Divorced- Derek has finally moved out and found the perfect place. Only the apartment of his dreams is haunted! Now it's up to Derek and Casey to find out exactly what's going on while unlocking their own unsolved mystery.
1. Just a Little Rodent Problem

(Hey. Here's another Lw/D fic. I wrote this one for my friend LW. =) Made while watching copius amounts of A Haunting and Ghost Hunters. lol. Enjoy!)

A Haunting in Vancouver

Ch. 1: It's Just a Little Rodent Problem. Nothing I Can't Handle

It was more than Derek could ask for; loads of space, good community. Not to mention the cheap cost of rent. Sure it could maybe use some upgrades and maybe even a new paint job, but Derek wasn't picky. He was finally out on his own, finally able to live his own life. The apartment couldn't be any more perfect.

As Derek carried his remaining bag up to the 2nd floor of the old complex building, he marveled at himself for probably the umpteenth time that day.

"Way to go Derek buddy," He grinned to himself. "A place to myself; no little siblings allowed."

He stuffed the key into the lock and threw open the door. The inside was already stocked full of cardboard boxes and a few of his old furniture items. He looked at the mangled wooden dresser that had somehow survived life in the former Venturi household.

"Eh." He shrugged, walking past it into his room. "Maybe I can take it apart and make it into a table or something."

Derek unzipped his bag and unceremoniously began to dump its confines out on the bed. He had heard the first thud, but had merely shrugged it off, telling himself that it was probably his toothbrush which he would pick up when he got around to it. Not that he would anytime soon, but just for the sake of hot girls everywhere he'd make a mental note of where it fell and tend to it later.

He heard the second thump as he turned to leave.

"The hell-?" He asked as he ventured into the minute hallway. He looked from left to right but didn't see the intruder. He hoped to some higher power that he didn't have rats or mice or any other form of rodent. Scratching his head the brunette went out to the living area and flopped into his chair. If he had some kind of pest problem he would surely have to hire an exterminator and that would cost money; money of which he didn't have at the moment.

"Could be that the place is ancient though." He mused, attention on a good sized box across the room he was sure held his precious TV. He shrugged and heaved himself off the chair, stretching as he stood up. "Well, not gonna worry 'bout it now. I need to get the TV out before I lose it."


	2. Okay, So It's Not a Rodent Problem

Ch. 2: Okay, So It's Not a Rodent Problem.

There was that sound again.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

Derek yawned and pulled himself out of bed. He had already gone to his neighbors, asking if they could keep their sex lives to themselves, but had only received confused faces from every elderly person who had opened their door. He pulled a hand through his unruly hair and opened his bedroom door.

"AHH!" Derek lost his balance and stumbled backwards, back into his room as his door slammed shut in front of him. "What the-?!"

A robber had broken into his sanctuary, his home, his castle! He didn't know what to do. Quickly, Derek scrambled to his feet and began tearing open any box that looked like it'd be big enough to hold what he was looking for. Finally he had found it.

"Aha!" The light saber was just the thing to send any filthy robber running. He opened his door again, light saber held tightly in both hands and started down the hall. When he got to the opening that led to the living area, he spotted his target.

A man stood hunched over his favorite chair as if deeply intrigued by it. Derek wasn't about to let anyone even think about taking his chair.

Slowly, the brunette made his way through the dark room, attempting to get close enough to the man to take a fair swing. But just as he was within swinging distance, the man spotted him and in the blink of an eye vanished.

"What. Just. Happened?" He blinked, trying to will himself to move, but his legs were frozen in place. "Okay." He told himself, trying to calm his beating heart. He looked over at the phone which had just been connected earlier that morning, debating if calling the last person he'd normally ask any help from was a good idea. "I don't think I have a rodent problem."


	3. Who You Gonna Call?

Ch. 3: Who You Gonna Call?

This wasn't just some figment of his imagination. Seriously, why would he, Derek Venturi, be hallucinating random men staring at his favorite chair? It was nonsense. But there was no denying it; his newly acquired sanctuary was haunted.

A bit more frantically than he had hoped, Derek dialed the number for the one person he knew he could talk to. Sure, he knew she would more than likely say something smart like: "It's just the anxiety of moving into a new place" or something along those lines. Hell, the brunette was even braced for the famous "Stop being a baby" speech he had had to endure on endless occasions, but his mind was made up. Besides, the phone had stopped ringing.

"Casey." Derek exclaimed, maybe a bit too loudly as he heard his former step-sister grunt disapprovingly on the line. "I gotta talk to you. It's important."

"Derek. Do you have any idea what time it is?" Casey's voice was still thick with sleep.

But Derek didn't care that it was 4 in the morning. He had to tell Casey about what he saw. Now just how to bring it up?

"Well," Casey inquired when her ex step-brother didn't answer.

Derek snapped back to the issue at hand, trying to convince her of his experience in a way that she wouldn't just jump up and call him crazy. "Well, ya' know that old movie? And how those four guys were into all that ghost stuff?" He mentally kicked himself. Try to make something seem real by using a movie to explain it--not the best idea.

By this point, Casey raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me, you called me at 4 am to talk about Ghost Busters?" She gave an exasperated sigh. "What is going on Derek?"

"Well Miss Princess," Derek began again, using an old nickname out of his frustration. "My point is that I think…I might have…you know…seen a ghost."

"Oh?" the female brunette asked suspiciously. "And what horror movie brought this on?"

"I'm telling you the truth Cas." He defended. "I really did see a ghost. I heard thumping and thought I was being robbed and just when I was about to deck the guy, he _poof_, Vanishes! I need your help to get rid of it. Ya' know, like in all those reality shows."

Another sigh on the line made Derek feel hopeful. He had heard that sigh before; it was when Casey would finally give up and give in. It was music to his ears.

"Thanks Cas." Derek beamed before she could even agree to help him. "I'll see you tomorrow night." And with that, he hung up.


	4. Scooby Snacks for the Hero

Ch. 4: Scooby Snacks for the Hero

"He was standing right here when I saw him." Derek explained, standing in the spot where he had first seen the ghost. "He bent over like this," He mimicked the position of the spirit, "saw me then disappeared. It was insane."

Casey listened to the boy's story. _Could he have really seen something_, she mused as she took in the entire room. Maybe it was just his imagination. Derek _did_ have a tendency of eating much more than what was considered a midnight snack before he went to bed. It could have been nothing more than a dream. Cautious not to trip over any of the debris that Derek had thrown out of the boxes in his attempt to unpack, Casey made her way over to Derek. He looked at her a bit startled when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Look." She began. There was no denying that the female brunette was still doubtful about what her newly acclaimed friend had seen, but she did care enough to try to help. "I'll stay until we figure out what exactly is going on. Personally, I think it's just your imagination, Derek, but I'll play along for your sake."

Derek pulled a face, but was grateful nonetheless. "Thanks Cas. I owe you big time." He ran over to a makeshift table made by him having pushed two boxes together and grabbed a grocery bag. The contents were quickly emptied and Casey could finally see what it held.

Two small candles, a clump of something she figured was incense and a container of salt poured out onto the table.

"You watch _way_ to many horror movies." Casey awed, sorting through the contents as she seated herself at the sorry excuse for a table.

Derek took a seat across from her. "Yeah well, you didn't think I did absolutely _nothing_ when I wasn't doing my homework, did you?"

Casey rolled her eyes and pulled herself to her feet. Only Derek could flaunt the fact around that he watched movies instead of doing menial school work. But she was used to it by now. She had lived with him in the same house after all and had become accustomed (if still as disapproving as ever) to many of Derek's little quirks. Despite the mess though, Casey was able to find what she had been looking for. In a box that was lying open on the kitchen counter, she found a small lighter. There had really been no need for the little device, but Derek had insisted on buying one after seeing it was embossed with his favorite Hockey team's name.

She strode back over to the table and kneeled to light one of the candles that Derek had already set up. As the wick caught flame, Derek turned to her.

"Yo' Cas," He hesitated, scratching at a phantom itch at the back of his head, "As much as it pains me to say this, I'm really glad you're here."

Casey set the candle down and turned to face him. "Well, someone had to come and prove you wrong." Her tone was serious, but she smiled nonetheless. This sudden act of kindness made Derek's face flush and he silently thanked God that all the lights had been cut for the investigation.

For that small moment, everything was silent between the ex siblings. Whether it was a simple comfort or potential longing that kept them there, neither would admit it.

Suddenly, their silence was broken by a loud noise and the sudden flickering vision of a man.


	5. Just Admit it I Was Right

Ch. 5: Just Admit It. I Was Right, You Were Wrong

If the expression was possible, Casey would have surely been crashing through the roof by this point. Had she really just seen what Derek had been claiming was there? She blinked in the dim light illuminating from the candles. No. It had to be her imagination, right. There was no such thing as ghosts…right?

She faced Derek, who matched her expression for a split second before it was replaced by a more confident look. "Now do you believe me?" He asked, helping her up along with him.

"Th-that doesn't prove anything." The brunette tried to suppress the fear that had passed through her. "All it proves is that it's late and the dark is playing tricks on us, Derek."

The boy shrugged. He knew Casey. She was scared and trying to hind behind her rationality, hoping that would calm her down. Whatever was in his apartment was in for the long haul when it came to his ex-sibling. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Casey demanded.

"Oh nothing," Derek smiled at her. "Just wondering when you became such a fraidy cat."

Casey crossed her arms and headed towards the kitchen. "Who's the one who called me at 4 in the morning to hunt ghosts?"

His mouth opened, but nothing came out of it. She had him there. "Touché."

A few hours passed as the two friends walked the apartment looking for anything that might lead to what was going on. Casey had brought up the possibility of ions or even a high electro-magnetic field that might be causing such things as ghosts to seem real. Derek had to admit he was surprised to learn that Casey knew quite a bit about this kind of thing. But when he made to praise her about her secret paranormal knowledge, she merely shrugged it off saying it had nothing to do with the paranormal and everything to do with real life science.

"Another thing it might be," She continued when they couldn't find anything that could come close to giving off high EMFs, "is that usually old buildings have a history of being built on top of large limestone deposits. That can attribute to the hallucinations too."

It was official, Derek hadn't the faintest clue what his friend was talking about. But regardless, and for the sake of argument, he let it go. She _had _been the one to get all A's in school.

"And what if it's none of your theories, brainiac," he asked, once again flopping into the comfort of his favorite chair.

"Well," Casey hesitated.

"Well-?" Derek pushed.

Casey sighed, a look of defeat on her face. "Well, then there's a possibility that this place is haunted."


	6. As Close to a Knight as You Can Get

Ch. 6: I May Not Be Your Typical Knight in Shining Armour, but You Gotta' Admit I Come Pretty Close

It was rounding on 3 am when Casey finally felt her body succumbing to sleep. But regardless she knew that she couldn't. Thoughts of the apparition she had witnessed earlier swam in her head and made her constantly contradict herself. It couldn't be real could it? Too bad she had ruled out Derek pulling a prank on her. This was way too elaborate. Even for the prank master.

Derek watched his friend as her facial expressions changed from deep concentration to a look a disdain and then to one of uncertainty. He couldn't help but smile at how cute it was. Wait-cute? Normally the boy would never think of his former step sister as cute, but then again he noticed he'd been thinking about her like that a lot lately. And it wasn't like they were related anymore, and he knew Casey. She wasn't like all the others. She was, dare he say it—special.

Suddenly he heard Casey yelp shrilly. Derek almost fell out of his chair at the sudden outburst and watched in confusion as his friend made a beeline towards his bedroom.

"Casey?" He called after her, steadying himself and following her. "Casey, you okay?"

When he opened the door he found the brunette huddled in the space between his bed and a wall. He took caution in walking towards her, fearing she might lash out or do something irrational to him. Slowly he knelt in front of her, trying to get the girl to meet his gaze.

"What happened?" He asked concerned.

Her shoulders were shaking slightly. "That thing….just grabbed my shoulder." Casey replied in disbelief. If this little adventure was meant to be educational or fun or whatever you would call it, Casey wasn't having any of it.

Derek put a hand on her shoulder in hopes of reassuring her. "I've never seen you this scared." He said in disbelief. "You know you have nothing to worry about, right."

Casey's eyes locked on his own. "Oh, and suddenly you're a hero?" She tried to make it sound as if she were merely joking, but her fear warped it, making her sound perturbed. However, it didn't faze the boy in front of her. He smiled that same smile he would always give her when everything was going to be okay. He would give her that same comforting look after coming to her rescue. She smiled back, though weakly. Derek would never admit to taking up for her, but every time it seemed that Casey's life was crashing down around her, Derek would always be there to save the day.

"Hold on a sec'," Derek said suddenly, getting to his feet. He went to the closet and smiled fondly at the large item he pulled from it. "Somehow, this got onto the moving truck."

Casey eyed him quizzically. "How's a hula-hoop going to protect us Derek?" Her voice was slightly frantic. But Derek only smiled.

"Really Cas, have a little faith in your knight in shining armour."

"Oh right, like you're my knight in shining armour." The smallest of smiles tugged at her lips.

"Of course, caz I have special powers." He gave her his best winning smile and carefully brought the hula-hoop over her. A feeling of nostalgia hit the two of them as they sat there, Derek holding the hula-hoop in place. Was he getting closer? Before Casey could say anything, their lips connected. And in an instant she met Derek's eyes. "Force field activated."


End file.
